Kitaakita City

Louder drums are said to call the rain.

Tsuzureko Big Drum, the shrine

Photo by Marho (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Foreigners' residence

A brick residence for foreigners,ringed by a wooden veranda.

To modernise mining, the Meiji government hired foreign engineers to give guidance at the Ani mine. This residence is a single-storey brick building with a gabled roof, a wooden veranda running around it and five rooms inside. It is counted among the older surviving brick houses in Japan, and became an Important Cultural Property in 1990.

Brick, five rooms inside
Wooden veranda on all four sides
Important Cultural Property, 1990

02 ／ Stone circles

About 1,500 river stones laid outin a ring roughly 30 m by 25 m.

At the start of the late Jomon period, a terrace was levelled wide to make a large place of ritual. Four stone circles stood together in the north-east. Stone Circle A, in the north-east corner, has a row of stones that seems to mark an entrance on its north side, and a central ring of about 1,500 river stones. It became a national Historic Site in 2001.

Four stone circles
Central ring of about 1,500 river stones
National Historic Site, 2001

03 ／ Bangaku

A crafted snake slips out below the curtain,fighting a mountain ascetic with fire and smoke.

Nekko Bangaku, handed down in the hamlet of Nekko in Ani, centres on vigorous dances of warriors. In Kanemaki, always performed last, a model snake about 2 m long comes out from the lower edge of the curtain. Its head is wooden and its body a bellows of cloth stretched over bamboo hoops; a firework set in its mouth is lit. A performance is held at the Nekko Bangaku Denshokan hall in the Obon season.

Snake about 2 m long
Always performed last
Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 2004

Living here

An airport for Haneda lies within the city.

about 30,000 people

Odate-Noshiro Airport is in Kitaakita, and in January 2025 the city announced that its three daily round trips to Tokyo Haneda are due to continue until 24 March 2029. By rail, Akita Nairiku Jukan Railway's Takanosu Station stands beside JR Takanosu Station on the Ōu Main Line. The city also pays part of the snow-clearing costs of tax-exempt households that physically cannot clear snow themselves.

People living here: 30,198people
Area: 1,152.76km²
Households: 11,799households
Rent (average for rentals): 33,381yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 28 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —11 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 7 municipalities.

Kitaakita City in Japan40.226°N 140.371°E

Territory of Kitaakita City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

62.1km

大館市, 上小阿仁村, 仙北市, 能代市, 藤里町, 秋田市, 鹿角市

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Kitaakita City isthis kind of town.

01Every 14 and 15 July, big drums are offered at Tsuzureko Shrine; the Tsuzureko Big Drum, whose louder sound is believed to aid rain prayers, is an intangible folk cultural property selected for documentation by the national government
02The city has the Former Ani Mine Foreigners' Residence, a national Important Cultural Property, and the Isedotai Site, a national Historic Site and a component of a World Cultural Heritage property
03In Nekko hamlet in Ani, Nekko Bangaku, an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, ends with Kanemaki, in which a model snake about 2 m long appears

See the town as it is now.

YouTubeChannel ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kitaakita City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗